Q69 and Q100 buses

q69
q100
21st Street Buses
Q69 and Q100 buses
A 2009 Orion VII NG HEV Spectrum (4267) on the Q100, and a 2024 XD40 (9274) on the Q69 to Long Island City, both at the Queensboro Plaza subway station
Overview
SystemMTA Regional Bus Operations
OperatorMTA Bus Company
GarageLaGuardia Depot
VehicleOrion VII NG HEV
New Flyer Xcelsior XD40
Nova Bus LFS
Began service1933 (Q69)
1980s (Q100)
Route
LocaleQueens, New York, U.S.
Communities servedQueens: Long Island City, Astoria, Steinway, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst
The Bronx (Q100): Rikers Island
StartLong Island City – Queens Plaza
Via21st Street
EndQ69: Jackson Heights – 82nd Street and Astoria Boulevard
Q100: Rikers Island, Bronx
Length5.4 miles (8.7 km) (Q69)
5.7 miles (9.2 km) (Q100)
Service
Operates24 hours (Q100)[1]
All times except late nights (Q69)[2]
Annual patronageQ69: 2,260,213 (2023)[3]
Q100: 809,431 (2023)[3]
TransfersYes
TimetableQ69
Q100
← Q67
Q88
 {{{system_nav}}}  Q70
Q101 →

The Q69 and Q100 Limited bus routes constitute a public transit line in western Queens, New York City. Beginning at Queens Plaza in Long Island City, the routes run primarily along 21st Street through the neighborhoods of Long Island City and Astoria. The Q69 makes all local stops, while the Q100 makes four limited stops along the shared corridor between Queens Plaza and Ditmars Boulevard. At Ditmars Boulevard, the Q69 turns east towards Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst near LaGuardia Airport. The Q100, meanwhile, continues north of Queens across Bowery Bay to the city jail complex on Rikers Island in the Bronx, providing the only public transit service to the island.[4]

The Q69 (originally the Q19A) was formerly privately operated by the Triboro Coach Corporation, and the Q100 (formerly the Q101R) by the Queens Surface Corporation, under subsidized franchises with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT). The Q19A itself was a merger of two bus routes, an older Q19A route and the Q51 (originally the Q33A), which were combined into a single route by 1960. The older Q19A was established in the 1920s and ran from the Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard station to Queens Plaza along 21st Street, while the Q51 was established in the late 1930s and ran from the Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard station east to Jackson Heights along Ditmars Boulevard. The Q101R, meanwhile, was created in the 1980s to replace the Q101 service to Rikers Island, and originally ran non-stop between 21st Street–Queensbridge and Rikers Island. From 2005 to 2006, the routes were taken over by MTA Regional Bus Operations under the MTA Bus Company brand, and relabeled to their current designations in 2008. Since then, limited stops were added to the now-Q100 route to improve service along 21st Street.

  1. ^ MTA Regional Bus Operations. "Q100 bus schedule".
  2. ^ MTA Regional Bus Operations. "Q69 bus schedule".
  3. ^ a b "Subway and bus ridership for 2023". mta.info. April 29, 2024. Archived from the original on May 2, 2024. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  4. ^ Rodriguez, Cindy; Hsu, Jennifer (August 29, 2014). "Shadow of Jail Violence Darkens Bus Ride to Rikers". WNYC. Archived from the original on May 27, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2016.